ECCruise

I should add that you would be dropped off at the Harimayabashi Tourist Bus Terminal so you can see where you would be in the city. 5 minute walk to Hariyma Bridge, 20-25 minute walk to Kochi Castle.

Lots of advantages to docking at Kahului vs. Lahaina. Docked instead of tendered. Easier access to rental cars at OGG airport (less than 10 minutes away). You can do the Road to Hana (virtually impossible from Lahaina unless overnight) Much closer to Haleakalā. Lahaina will take many years to rebuild and who knows what it will end up as. But having spent lots of time in Maui, docking at Kahului would be a big plus for us.

Hello, Monica! Celebrity may not be sailing until next year, but our information is definitely post-covid and would think that Celebrity would be offering the same things that we had on our 2 stops in Kochi a few months ago. Yes, there is a shuttle to the bus station in Kochi (it had a fee on HAL maybe $30 RT, free on Azamara). Takes 30 minutes. Lots of tourist assistance folks at the city stop if you need it, but we had our full day planned both times so hoofed it directly into the central city. Kochi is one of our favorite stops in Japan.

If you have, for example, a UK special that is $500 less than what we have to pay in the US, but have to pay $45 more for an excursion on said sailing, how can that not be a better deal? I'm confused.

After wrestling with things on the website, like everyone, since the transition, I have had 4 interactions with CS in the last 3 weeks. Total time invested was less than 30 minutes total via phone and email. Got multiple Circle accounts sorted out. Loyalty level and points corrected via email. Added 4 shore excursions on 2 different sailings, charged to OBC. All interactions were polite and effectual, both on phone and email replies. At least for us, and in a totally anecdotal take, it is getting much better.

When the booking is deposited and invoiced.

For future note, bookings done recently on the new system will generate check-in info when booking is inked. For example, we have all info (port, directions, boarding time and the boarding pass) on a sailing on Quest beginning 12 July, 2025.

With every one of our 7 Azamara sailings post-restart, we received a detail email with times, locations, etc. for check in. But not 3 weeks prior to sailing.

You can't outprice them. As the prices escalate, so do the worst bunch of pax we've ever seen in over 100 sailings. And worse by the day. But you can mitigate it a lot by sailing a better (sometimes more $$$, sometimes not) cruise line.

Depends. Have showered there between Azamara and Oceania R class at least 300 times and never a problem. Shower size is so far down my list of important features that you'd be hard pressed to find it on my list of desirability.

That may have been true in the past, but with the big price jumps recently is not necessarily the case. I posted a comparison on another thread: Here is an example of Azamara vs. Celebrity. 10 day, Eastern Med, summer 2024. Balcony cabin, Deck 7 both. All inclusive. Azamara including grats, no grats for =X= after October. Both refundable. $200 OBC, =X=. $300 OBC Azamara. Celebrity: $9233.18 Azamara: $8291.24

Sometimes yes. Quite often, no. Since =X=, Azamara and Oceania are the 3 lines we've sailed most frequently, we often compare. Here is an example of Azamara vs. Celebrity. 10 day, Eastern Med, summer 2024. Balcony cabin, Deck 7 both. All inclusive. Azamara including grats, no grats for =X= after October. Both refundable. $200 OBC, =X=. $300 OBC Azamara. Celebrity: $9233.18 Azamara: $8291.24

For Luxor at least, I would investigate what private tours are available. We did Luxor overnight, just the 2 of us and had a guide and driver with us the full time, a beautiful Nile view room (also at the Steigenberger) Luxor and Valley of the Kings all included (extra little bit for Tut's tomb, the least impressive, IMHO). While the Azamara tours were headed back on the long drive to Safaga, we were having a leisurely dinner at one of the Steigenberger's restaurants (our cost) before heading to our huge balcony. At not much more $$$ than the one day trips from the ship.

Yes, all depends on your perspective. Have sailed AQ many times on =X= and over a dozen Azamara cruises. No comparison IMHO. Wouldn't even put them in the same ballpark for itineraries, service, staff involvement, food, well travelled clientele and a whole lot of extras (e.g. White Night, Azamazing Evening for starters) that make a big difference at the end of the day. For us, it would be Azamara in a walk.

We had a similar problem with Celebrity on a lift and shift. They insisted that it could not be accomplished, even though it was obvious that it should have been. The problem is, when they hold all the cards, we are beholden to the cruise lines, even when it is beyond common sense.

I have to weigh in here on our most recent experience. We had a pricing issue that was not resolved to our satisfaction nor to our TA's satisfaction. We weren't looking to get over but merely to get some sort of acknowledgment that Azamara had made a mistake and was willing to be at least somewhat accommodating. I must report that by both our TA and ourselves being fairly persistent, Azamara has been more than fair on our issue. It took some time on everyone's part--ours, our TA and Azamara--but a realistic outcome was achieved. I feel much better about the 7 sailings we have booked in the future.

Have been sailing Celebrity since 1999. 30-some sailings, about a years worth of time on 15 ships. Sailed every =X= ship built except Meridian before it went to the bottom. Never sailed Flora or an E-class and have zero desire to sail either. For many years, Celebrity's theme song, which was in all the commercials and played the last night when the staff and crew would assemble on the stage in the theater, was "Simply the Best." And honestly, we strongly felt that way. For the better part of a dozen years, we considered no other line except for something that Celebrity did not offer (an excursion ship to Antarctica, e.g. for more than the 1 year they offered it). It was our line of choice and we wore that badge proudly. But then we felt it starting to get away from our personal preferences. When drink packages and Martini bars and Silent Disco and Liars Club became the focus rather than spending time in unique destinations. When the bulk of =X= itineraries became, at the least, pretty hackneyed. We no longer did the Caribbean or Alaska, so that worked against booking again. Even though we have 4 =X= sailings booked with some interesting itineraries, we have largely moved on. Have done many Azamara, which is by far our preferred choice, and a number of Oceania (no longer consider them) but also starting to re-add HAL to the mix after a number of years away since they have some really interesting itineraries. But Celebrity has obviously inked the direction that they want to go forward with, and that is fine. Suite-centric, younger demographic, and maximum price point with less inclusions. If they feel that it is their best foot forward, more power to them. They likely will be able to develop a new guest profile and perhaps to continue to sail full (although all lines are largely sailing full today). We have some wonderful memories, and that will stay forever.

I thought the same thing but then realized that only bookings post October 4 will lose the grats.

That was pretty much our feelings after our last sailing on Oceania (25 night Amazon RT Miami). This was our 6th O cruise and it just had a different feel. Staff just a little too standoffish. Although not a huge deal, officers were virtually never seen. Food good but Specialty reservations very difficult (we were low CAT verandah). And if we heard it once, we heard it many times, "This is our XX Oceania cruise. And how many is this for you?" So for us, it was 6 and done with O. Enjoy Japan on Azamara. We just did that in May this year.

That is exactly what our TA was told. That the AARP for the 2025 sailing could not be applied until we updated our AARP membership next year.

Almost certainly the ship will be docked in Osanbashi Terminal. Search on that and there is plenty of information available. From Nihon-Odori station it is only a few minutes walk up to the terminal check in area.

Probably best to post this on the Caribbean ports of call thread or on your roll call rather than on a general thread that involves thousands of cruises and ports.

It varies by the amount of work, but for Quest, it will be in dry dock from April 1 through April 14, 2024. You will likely notice nothing much of consequence, since on a 2 week dry dock, virtually everything done will be mechanical inspections, hull cleaning and probably painting. Maybe some upgrading of soft goods in some areas but not much more than that.

Closed, locked, open, doesn't matter. Absurdly rude behavior. The staff has barely finished with first service, maybe taking a 10 minute breather to get ready for second service, and someone wants to get there "10 or 20 minutes early" and expect no problem? You don't want to be seated at 8:30, book anytime.

I misspoke on the "originates." The OP's cruise terminates in SIN. Which is what ours did (Tokyo to Singapore), and we were required to complete the SG arrival card on the ship. Don't know if that has, or will, change but definitely needed to do it as of the beginning of this month as per Singapore Immigration.